Hellfire

Post 2x02

It was raining literal hellfire. Lava bombs were shooting up from the earth and dropping down on them.

"Captain Strand!"

TK whipped around and saw Tim bent over a prone form lying on the ground, a lava rock stuck in their chest.

TK ran over, feeling his body grow cold when he realized it was his dad lying there.

"Dad!" TK shouted, shaking Owen's arm as he used his other to check for a pulse. No pulse… and he couldn't do compressions with the rock in the way.

"Dad," TK whimpered, "No… dad…"

TK shot up in bed, gasping for air.

"Shh, shh, you're okay," Carlos hushed him, sitting up and resting his hand on TK's back.

"He- he- my dad- he-" TK sobbed, unable to get the words out.

"It was just a nightmare baby," Carlos said softly, "Your dad's okay."

"What if he's not?" TK gasped, "What if this wasn't actually over? What if we were wrong? Maybe it spreads out farther than we thought, there could be lava underneath us… Under his house… What if-"

"Let's call him," Carlos said gently, "Come on, let's call him and you'll see he's okay."

TK nodded and grabbed his phone in shaking hands, pulling up his dad's number. He waited as it rang once, a sob escaping him as it went to voicemail.

"It's okay," Carlos soothed, "He's probably sleeping. Try him again."

TK dialed, holding the phone tightly in his shaking hand. It went straight to voicemail again and TK felt as if all the air had left his lungs.

"Carlos…" he gasped, "He- he…"

"I'm sure he's okay," Carlos said softly, "You need to breathe baby."

"I need to go… I need to see him!" TK said, throwing back the covers and scrambling out of the bed.

"Ty, slow down," Carlos said, getting out of bed and trying to get TK to stop his mad dash to get dressed.

"No, Carlos, I can't," TK said, "I have to see him. I- I have to- I-" his breathing picked up and he couldn't seem to slow it down.

"Okay, okay, easy," Carlos grabbed TK's hands and pulled him to sit on the edge of the bed. "Breathe, Tyler, nice and slow. That's it baby. In and out."

They sat there as Carlos talked TK through his panic attack.

"Listen," Carlos murmured, "We'll go see your dad, okay? I need you to keep breathing. I know it's hard and I know you're scared, but just keep taking those breaths and I'll drive us, okay?"

"Okay," TK whispered, trying not to fall back into his panicked state. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," Carlos said right away, "You have nothing to be sorry for. I just don't want you stressing yourself out when we don't know for sure there's anything to worry about, okay?"

TK nodded and they stood up, continuing to get dressed before heading out to the car. Carlos drove them over to Owen's, one hand resting on TK's bouncing knee the whole way there. When they pulled up, the lights were off and there was no sign of any lava.

"His car's here," Carlos said, "Looks okay from out here."

"Can we go in a check?" TK pleaded, "He always answers. What if he fell or something happened, and he can't get to his phone? I just… I need to make sure."

"Let's go," Carlos said simply, the two of them getting out and walking to the front door. TK pulled out his key and they let themselves inside. The house was dark and quiet, and it suddenly occurred to TK how insane this was. It was two in the morning, and he was sneaking into his dad's house because of a nightmare.

"We should go," he whispered, turning back to Carlos, "We should go. Oh god. You probably think I'm crazy. I can't believe I dragged us over here-"

"No baby, you're not crazy," Carlos whispered back, "You're scared and that's okay. Today was awful, it's normal that you're feeling like this. We're already here, are you sure you don't want to go check on him?"

"No," TK said after a moment of hesitation. He really did want to go check on his dad, but, despite Carlos' denial, he still felt crazy. "No, let's go. Let's-"

"TK?"

A light flicked on, and Owen came slowly down the stairs in his pajamas.

"What's going on? You guys okay?" Owen asked, resting a hand on TK's shoulder and more than a little confused why they were sneaking in at two in the morning.

TK opened and closed his mouth a few times, suddenly not knowing what to say. He'd got it in his head that something awful had happened to his dad and now, here he was, standing in front of him, perfectly fine.

"Are you guys okay?" Owen asked again, looking back and forth between them, "Did something happen?"

TK opened his mouth once more and this time a sob escaped. He launched himself into his dad's arms, clinging hard.

"Oof," Owen stumbled back slightly at the unexpected impact, but steadied quickly and wrapped his arms around his son.

"Hey, it's okay, you're okay," Owen said softly, "What happened bub? What's going on?"

TK just buried his face further into his dad's neck, unable to stop the sobs escaping him. He wasn't sure exactly why he was crying at this point. Whether it was from the stress he'd been feeling since waking up, relief that his dad was actually okay, or the now overwhelming embarrassment that was starting to overtake him.

"He had a nightmare," Carlos started to explain, but before he got any further another voice joined them.

"Owen? What's going on?" Gwyn asked, appearing at the top of the stairs. "TK?" She rushed down, resting a hand on the back of TK's head.

"What happened?" she asked, looking imploringly between her ex-husband and her son's boyfriend.

"He had a nightmare," Carlos repeated, "About the lava bombs. He dreamt that you were the one that was killed… Woke up having a panic attack."

"Oh sweetheart," Gwyn murmured, rubbing her hand up and down his back, "It was only a dream."

"You- you- you didn't an-answer," TK gasped between sobs.

"Answer? In your dream?" Owen asked.

"I- I c-called you," TK said, "You- you didn't answer."

Owen glanced over his son's shoulder and saw, there on the kitchen table, right where he'd forgotten it, was his phone.

"I'm so sorry buddy," Owen murmured, "I forgot to bring it upstairs with me. I was just so tired… oh god bubs, I'm so sorry."

"'m so stupid," TK mumbled into his dad's shoulder.

"Hey," Gwyn said sharply, "You are not stupid. Why would you say that?"

"I'm 27 and I came running over here cause of a bad dream," Tk said, starting to pull back from his dad's embrace, but Owen pulled him in tighter.

"You can always come to me, I've told you that," he said, holding TK close. "I'm sorry I didn't answer my phone and I'm sorry you were so scared. I'm glad you came here instead of sitting at home and panicking."

"You are?" TK asked, glancing unsurely at his dad.

"Yes," Owen said firmly, "I would rather you call me over and over every night than sit and panic and work yourself up."

"I'm 27…"

"I don't care," Owen interrupted. "You be 107 and you could still come to me."

That got a small laugh out of TK and the other three smiled.

"I'm still sorry I woke you up," TK said, "All of you."

"Don't even worry about that sweet boy," Gwyn said softly, "how about you guys stay here tonight?"

"No, mom, we've already disturbed you enough," TK protested, though there was no real heat to it. Now that his panic had worn off, he was exhausted.

"Don't be ridiculous," Owen said, "Come on. Come sit down, I'll warm up some milk, that'll help us all relax. Then you guys can stay here."

He kept his arm around TK's shoulders and led his son into the kitchen while Gwyn took Carlos' arm and followed behind.

"You know, I think this might be the first time I've ever caught you sneaking into the house…"

Thanks for reading!